Windows registery file editing

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:47 am

I was wondering if its possable to edit a registry to search for a different install folder.

Example:

If I installed Crysis on C:\EAgame\Crysis
However I need to have it on
D:\EAgames\Crysis

is there a pratical and easy solution to do this?

Is there a easy to way tell what the names of the files a installer is adding to your directory?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:53 am

Not all games use the registry.. sometimes it is stored in a cfg or ini file.

The registry has certain areas it generally writes to for games... check out..

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software

As for the installer stuff.. there used to be "install protection software" like Norton Uninstall that used to do stuff like this.

Rashidi · Post by **Rashidi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:06 am

if you a bit techy, try Regmon
monitor the registry access of the game, then conclude what have to be done (or not do)

that of course if the game use registry...

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:36 am

I love you guys you're simply the best tech service.

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:28 am

Ok I can seem to get the file to load now that i've changed the registry but it doesnt play. It will being to play then just close itself.

What I did was remove the files from my c drive. Burn them to a cdr which is my d drive. Is there any reason why this would start to boot then just stop like this?

Palin · Post by **Palin** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:37 am

Maybe its trying to do a write to a read only file and failing silently?

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:01 am

Yeah... it's not beyond the realm of possibility that it installs to the hard drive because it can't run from CD.

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:09 pm

Interesting. Is there any way to moniter the exe file to tell where it tries to save at? Also is there away to hex edit the file to point towards a different directory?

Rashidi · Post by **Rashidi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:01 pm

clessoulis wrote:Is there any way to moniter the exe file to tell where it tries to save at?

umm, FileMon?

Palin · Post by **Palin** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:07 pm

I think the question you should be asking yourself at this point is:

"Is this all really worth the effort I'm putting into it?"

Post by **odditude** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:30 pm

sanity-preserving method:

backup your saves.

uninstall game.

reinstall game in desired location.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:56 pm

odditude wrote:sanity-preserving method:

backup your saves.

uninstall game.

reinstall game in desired location.

QFT

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:44 pm

funkyass wrote:
odditude wrote:sanity-preserving method:

backup your saves.

uninstall game.

reinstall game in desired location.
QFT

Problem is... he can't run it from a CD that way, since the game won't install to a CD-R.

sweener2001 · Post by **sweener2001** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:28 pm

virtual drive?

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:44 pm

The whole point is to make it run off the cd. This is gonna be for a setup of 4 pc's. None of the pc's that will be playing the game have more than 50MB of extra free space after a windows installation. SSD arent that big.

Btw yes its worth my effort to hex edit the save directory in the exe to always be im my documents.

In fact its worth me paying a decent ammount of money to someone if they know they can do it.

Post by **odditude** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:42 am

Even if you manage this, keep in mind that the game may react rather poorly to the dramatically longer load times you'll find running from a CD vs. a hard drive.

At the minimum, expect there to be regular delays due to file seeks/loads.

clessoulis · Post by **clessoulis** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:04 am

I'm sitting here looking at filemon and honestly I have no clue where the hell to start anyways.

Its obviously loading and writing files in 2 folders which is looking for on the cd. When it tries to write I guess it just fails.

Log folder and Backup folder. No clue how to mod the .exe to look for those folders else where.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:29 am

Clessoulis' IQ: The one constant of the ZSNES Board over the years.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:43 am

two words:

network shares.